Carja craned her head to try to see, keeping her hands out of the way if she fidgeted, trying not to, though. She watched curiously, eyes big and inquisitive, before she looked at Azure questioningly.

"Um- okay," she said, "Is it bad? Why is it important?"

She crossed her paws before uncrossing them, trying her diddly-darn best to stay still, occasionally licking her lips, anxious to see the final result. At least she was already mostly covered in dye from her earlier attempts at doing so, and sniffed at the bottle Azure had.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked curiously, "Is it holding the water?"

That was amazing! She wanted one!

Carja blinked and shuffled, "Well... if it makes you feel better, they're kind of obsessed with snails. The leader, Sunny- or um, Voidmother, is a snail. She's so tiny and really really sweet, and is really nice to all of us. The only things she's ever gotten me to do are fly her around Cetus and through the caves because she's so slow. But my family don't really go anywhere. I love them, I do, but they're so... boring. So I'm going to do this because it feels... right? I guess."

She shrugged and smiled, "Thank you. If anything like that happens, I'll be sure to keep it in mind."

Carja lowered her head and tapped her nose, making a faint stripe up her snort, from her top lip nearly to her eyes, "Yeah! My friend Sunny can't see very well, so I want to make a little spot where my head and eyes are so she can see me better."

"Oh! My vents are super cool- I can use them to cool myself down or warm myself up really fast. If I'm too hot, I open them all the way, and if I'm too cold, then I close them."

She opened the vents, steam wafting up from them as she grinned, "I run a bit hot, but that's just because I'm a dragon. I'm water and ice, weirdly enough. But I guess it helps me stay warm?"

Carja didn't say anything about Asimona because what her grandma had done and why she had done it was none of her business. She could see that the dragon was turning over a new leaf. Not only did Carja reunite her and Wyvern, but Asimona had a new child. Charon. A spiky little thing that really really liked to eat people's tails.

"It's both!", she said, "I want my nose grey for both! I hope my family recognizes me after this."

Which family? Both, she supposed. The Voidcrawlers and her family. She wondered if Svartis would like her new scales. She hoped so.

Carja lowered her head and stretched out her wings, "Could you leave the skin between my wing-fingers bare? They're sensitive, and I like their colors. And the fin on my tail!"

She raised her tail and waved it around, the two fins flaring out before she lowered her tail again. This was going well!

"Have you ever dyed your feathers?", Carja asked, "They're very pretty- I like how they shine blue and green."

She moved her head a bit so Azure could get at everything, tail wagging gently in excitement.

Carja raised her wings and turned her head, standing up and letting her tail swing around. She admired her claws, her scales, her lovely new colors, looking at everything she could. She grinned and ran her paw over it, admiring the dye as it stayed on her scales.

"It's... it's amazing!", she said, craning her neck to try and see her back and the new colors she had, "Oh my gosh- it's amazing!"

She wiggled around excitedly and walked around in a circle, neck stretching to gaze at her new colors, "Oh my gosh- this is even better than I imagined! It's like... It's like you took the starts of Orion and put them direction onto my scales!"

Carja laughed in delight and turned to Azure, grinning widely, "Thank you!! Oh thank you so much!"

"What do I owe you? I can hunt for you or get you fruit from Eridanus-", she said, unable to stop looking at her beautiful scales.

She had to show Svartis and Asimona and Dread- oh she hoped they loved how she looked now!! She could just barely see the grey on her snout, a constant, in-her-face reminder of where she came from. Her beautiful family, her friends. It was amazing.

Carja cooed and nodded, "Okay!! I'll come back with the fruit once I'm back. I have to go to one of the caves near Polaris! Some stupid mushroom tried to hurt my family, so I'm gonna save them and beat it up!"

She grinned and flared her wings, looking like the night sky as she reared, readying herself to take off, "Bye, Azure! I'll make sure to be a hero in style!"

She offered only the gentlest of nose bumps, the tip of her snout as gentle as a breeze on Azure before she turned away and took flight, powerful wings lifting her into the air. She let out a roar, her bellow echoing around the cave, powerful and full of determination, her neck expanding and vibrating as she did. She snapped her jaws shut and rumbled, her sunshine-rainbows fairy voice completely contrasting the sheer power of the dragon and the deep, rumbling of her roar.

She waved one last time, smiling brightly, before taking off, wings flapping to allow her to surge upwards on the winds, riding them as if they were nothing.

Perhaps her colors weren't just that. Perhaps... they were warpaint.